Clinton’s claim puts the lid on witnesses from the Justice Department – including the Bureau of Prisons and the FBI, who opposed the clemency grant – and thousands of documents that might reveal why he made such an unpopular decision.

In a letter to the House committee that had subpoenaed the papers and witnesses, White House deputy counsel Cheryl Mills said Clinton invoked the privilege “after seeking the views” of Attorney General Janet Reno.

Clinton’s clemency offer led to the freeing of 11 FALN prisoners who were part of a group responsible for more than 130 bombings and six deaths in the 1970s and 1980s.

Victims of those crimes said they were “insulted” by the president’s cling to secrecy.

“The White House is causing us more and more pain on a daily basis,” said Diana Berger, wife of Alex Berger, one of four men killed in the 1975 FALN bombing of Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan.

“It’s more than an insult. I’m mystified by this. It is unbelievably frustrating.”

Clinton ignored a question about his executive-privilege claim yesterday after he made a brief statement of grief for the victims of the mass shooting in Texas.

The clemency grant is turning out to be one of his most unpopular decisions as president.

Both houses of Congress have voted overwhelmingly (311-41 in the House, 95-2 in the Senate) to condemn the clemency.

And a new Quinnipiac College poll found that only 12 percent of New Yorkers approve of clemency, while 52 percent disapprove and 35 percent don’t understand the issue.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose presumed New York Senate campaign has been rocked by the controversy, said through a spokesman that she doesn’t see any need for the administration to release documents that offer details of how the president’s decision was made.